Former Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester United goalkeeper Chris Turner is enjoying his new role as Port Vale’s sales and marketing manager. He tells Mike Baggaley about his hopes for the Vale...

We wouldn’t normally kick off an interview with Port Vale’s new sales and marketing manager by asking all about the team, but in Chris Turner’s case it’s worth making an exception.

The 59 year old has plenty of experience in the business side of football having been chief executive and director of football at Chesterfield, but that’s just part of a CV which includes a 19-year playing career for Sheffield Wednesday, Sunderland, Manchester United and Leyton Orient, and more than 400 games in management with Orient, Hartlepool, Sheffield, Wednesday and Stockport.

So, when he says Port Vale is never an easy place to come for the opposition, he knows what he’s talking about.

He said: “When I first came here in 1977 with Sheffield Wednesday it really was a big, wide open stadium. I was only 19 and remember coming out on this pitch, on a foggy, rainy day and thinking it was massive.

“I remember it well because Gordon Banks was at the game and put a little bit in the local Sheffield sports paper regarding my performance. He said he thought this lad had a bright future. It was great for a young lad to read that from our World-Cup winning goalkeeper.

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“But Port Vale away is not easy, as I know because I have come back as a manager and got beaten.

“I think people come with the impression that it’s a big wide open pitch and you can go and play expansive football, but we always found it tough.

Port Vale's sales and marketing manager Chris Turner

“Fans get behind the team. You know there are certain grounds you go to where it’s a nice afternoon and you have the opportunity to play some football, but I think it’s a positive for Port Vale that our players get the fans behind them and it makes it very difficult for the opposition. We have seen that with Coventry and Luton who were playing well and scoring goals, but came here, didn’t score and got beaten.”

Those back-to-back Christmas wins continued Vale’s impressive run under Neil Aspin. In fact, Vale’s 26 points from his 14 games in charge amounts to promotion form.

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That has impressed Turner who knows Aspin having signed him as a player for Hartlepool, and also knows all about the difficulties of management.

He recalls keeping Hartlepool in League One in 2009-10, but suffering a 3-1 home defeat to Southampton that season.

He said: “I was in the local DIY store the next day and heard the fella on the neighbouring till ask the customer what he thought of the game. The answer came ‘Well, we lost, but what do you expect with those muppets we’ve got in charge?

‘While our clowns were ranting and raving on the touchline, Alan Pardew was just standing there calmly with his arms folded. That’s how you should do it.’

Turner adds: “I thought, well if I had Rickie Lambert and Adam Lallana in my team, I’d be relaxing with my arms folded as well.”

Aspin, as far as we know, hasn’t been accosted at any DIY stores while out and about from his Newcastle digs.

Turner says the Valiants boss deserves nothing but praise. He said: “Neil’s record in non-league was excellent. But it wasn’t easy for him because when you go back to a club where you are a legend there is only one way you can go really. That’s what tends to happen when people return to the club where everyone holds you in such high esteem.

“So, you come back as a manager and you know how precarious a manager’s position can be. But he has done great and got off on the right footing. He has got the players working hard, they are well organised, winning games, the crowd is behind them and he has a great opportunity now.

“Generally when you go to a team that is losing there are reasons behind it. It’s also a lot harder now because of the transfer windows.

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“The quickest way for a manager to change things has been to trade players in and out. But Neil has had to wait three months before the January window opened so he can bring a few of his players in and move one or two out because we have a massive squad of 35 players. So he has done great.”

Aspin wasn’t the only familiar face Turner saw when he started work at the end of November. He knew chief executive Colin Garlick well from the football circuit when Garlick was at Rochdale, and had also met owner Norman Smurthwaite at Football League meetings as well as dealing with him for the compensation deal that took Sam Morsy from Vale Park to Chesterfield.

Smurthwaite kept in touch with Turner after he left Chesterfield in March.

Port Vale's new sales and marketing manager Chris Turner

He is pleased to be back in football as sales and marketing manager at Vale Park and says he comes into a club with plenty of potential.

He said: “The advantages here include the main stand; the facilities are fantastic with boxes and corporate packages and also the enterprise centre. There is a lot to be getting my teeth into, I know we are a League Two club presently but the facilities and the stadium are away above that.

“There is a lot of work to be done inside the ground. Perimeter boards need upgrading and selling, there are plenty of spare places for companies to advertise with us. So, there is plenty of work to be done there.

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“There is also stand sponsorship which is difficult to get but there are at least two stands that need fulfilling. Hopefully we can have that done for the start of next season.

“The big thing that has impressed me has been the support for the club, culminating in the win against Luton.

“From my point of view, I want to build some bridges with people who feel they can’t come to games or sponsor the club for various reasons over ten or 15 years. I want to try to get as many people and companies back interested in Port Vale as I can.

“It always helps when what is happening on the pitch is good. Since Neil has come in we are moving in the right direction and I think people on the outside can see Port Vale is on the go again.”